Trastevere: the backstreets south of the Viale
Cobbled lanes, a golden mosaic facade, and the morning square before the crowds arrive. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Piazza di San Cosimato
Start in the real working square, not the famous one. There's a small daily food market under the plane trees most mornings, locals on the benches, and none of the evening's noise. Come now and you get Trastevere doing its actual job.

2. Vicolo del Cinque
Wander up this narrow lane for the cobbles, the ivy, and the laundry strung between shutters. Resist photographing every doorway and just walk it slowly; this is the *Trastevere* that survives between the bars.

3. Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere
The heart of the *rione* — go in the early morning when the mosaic facade catches the light and the steps of the *fontana* aren't yet packed. Inside the basilica, the gold apse mosaics are the oldest of their kind in the city; tip your head back and let your eyes adjust.

4. Via della Lungaretta
The old straight road that ran clear to the river, now lined with shops. Walk its length east, but slip into the side lanes whenever one tempts you — the grid here predates the traffic by a couple of thousand years.

5. Basilica di Santa Cecilia
South into the quieter pocket for the church built over the house of the patron saint of music. Pay the small fee to go down into the excavated Roman rooms beneath, or just sit in the courtyard garden with its single rose bush and fountain.

6. Piazza Trilussa
Finish at the river end, where the broad fountain steps face Ponte Sisto. By day it's calm and the view across to the *centro* is the reward; the tram back is a couple of minutes north along the *Lungotevere*.

Trastevere: the backstreets south of the Viale